At the time of writing, there was still no clarity as to whether South African defence equipment or ammunition had been loaded onto the Russian cargo vessel the Lady R, when it docked at the Simon’s Town naval base on December 6. What was clear, though, was that South Africa had entered choppy foreign policy waters. It was also clear that the trust deficit over its so-called neutral stance in relation to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, following Russia’s invasion of its neighbour, was growing both domestically and abroad.